Chris Christie Mocks Vivek Ramaswamy, Likens Him To Barack Obama

Aug. 23 2023, Published 10:28 p.m. ET

Vivek Ramaswamy quickly became the punching bag at the Wednesday, August 23, Republican GOP debate.

Within the first 30 minutes of the Fox News program, both Mike Pence and Chris Christie took jabs at his lack of experience and even his appearance.

Ramaswamy doesn't have any political experience.

"Now it’s not the time for on-the-job training. We don’t need to bring in a rookie," the former VP said. "We don’t need to bring in people with no experience."

"Now that everyone's got their mesmerized prepare slogans out of the way, we can actually have a real discussion now," Ramaswamy later replied to Pence's jab.

Mike Pence mocked Ramaswamy's "rookie" status.

The topic then changed to climate change, and Ramaswamy's response ruffled feathers with Christie.

"I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for so I can say this: the climate change agenda is a hoax," he declared to a round of boos.

Christie interrupted to give his two cents, and he didn't refrain from making fun of Ramaswamy's personality and physical appearance.

Chris Christie compared Ramaswamy to Barack Obama,

"I've had enough. I've had enough already tonight, of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here," he quipped, which sparked a huge smile from Ramaswamy.

"The last person ... [at] these debates who stood in the middle of the stage and said, 'What's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here?' is Barack Obama, and I'm afraid we're dealing with the same type of amateur."

Ramaswamy hit back by claiming Christie helped Obama get elected as president.

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Elsewhere in the debate, the entrepreneur dissed Christie for his frequent disses over Donald Trump.

"Honest to God, your claim that Donald Trump is motivated by vengeance and grievance would be a lot more credible if your entire campaign wasn't based on vengeance and grievance against one man," he declared.

Trump echoed that sentiment during his interview with Tucker Carlson.

"Think of an 8% approval rating in New Jersey. Now he's running for president and he runs solely on the basis of, oh, 'let's get Trump.' It's like a savage maniac," he passionately said. "He's like a lunatic, and that's all he talks about. His poll numbers are very, very low, about 2%."